


Forever is Not Long Enough

by ghostofdarkness



Category: Poldark (TV 2015), Poldark (TV 2015) RPF, Poldark - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, F/M, Vampires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-16
Updated: 2021-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-24 23:41:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30080133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghostofdarkness/pseuds/ghostofdarkness
Summary: An alternate ending following Season 5
Relationships: Demelza Carne & Ross Poldark, Demelza Carne/Ross Poldark
Comments: 2
Kudos: 23





	1. Part 1

Two months into his mission to France, Ross was captured. He had been chained to the wall of the French prison for months. He’d been abused, tortured, and starved. They accused him of being a double agent and spying on them when he was supposed to be their spy in England. They were right but Ross refused to give in. Eventually, they left him to rot on the wall. They gave him a sip of water every couple of days and a mouthful of grool once every couple of weeks. 

It left Ross with very little to think about but he focused everything in his mind on a red-haired woman, whom he loved with everything. He had even begun to hallucinate her comforting him in his cell. 

Her loving arms were wrapped around his neck, holding her body close to him. He could smell the scent of an ocean breeze and the wildflowers in her hair. She was forever putting flowers in her hair.

“Demelza,” he whispered into the darkness, “Forgive me, my love, forgive me.”

He babbled apologies for missing the harvest, for his transgressions against her and the children, and for leaving them.

He was at his breaking point - if the French officers returned, he would make a deal. Any deal they wanted so long as they ended his suffering. Which was exactly what he thought they wanted. In truth, they had actually forgotten about him and had even stopped giving him water and food. He had been sentenced to die alone and of starvation. 

He lay on the floor of his dirty cell unable to move to even kill himself due to the heavy chains around his wrist and neck. He fell unconscious and into a dreamless sleep.

***

When next he awoke it was to the feeling of being hauled up by his hair.

“Ross Poldark?” asked a man with a thick French accent.

“At your service,” replied Ross, rather mechanically. 

He felt his head pulled to the side followed by a sharp stinging in his neck accompanied by the most incredible bliss that he had only ever felt before in the arms of his beloved Demelza. Then he felt the last little bit of his life draining out of him and he welcomed death.

“Thank you,” he whispered to the man draining his blood. He thought that his monster was here to finally end his suffering. 

The man drinking from his neck stopped, “Not yet, Captain Poldark, I have uses for a man of your talents.”

Then Ross felt something wet drip into his mouth and thinking it was water, drank hard and deep. It wasn’t water but it was sweet and he could not get enough of it. Eventually, the source was ripped away and Ross collapsed onto the hardness of his cell floor once more. His body felt so blissful and serene that he welcomed the darkness that returned and felt his heart stop. 

***

Death did not come to collect Ross Poldark instead he found himself waking up on a pile of corpses. He pushed the ones on top of him off and scrambled away from the rotting mess. He heaved his stomach at the revolution of it. 

His attention was then brought to the sound of someone clapping and laughing. He turned to see a tall, blonde man in fine clothes. “About time you woke up, I had been starting to wonder if you were ever going to come around,” said the man who had the same voice as the man who had bitten him in his cell.

“Who are you? How did I get here?” demanded Ross. Ideally, he thought that he felt rather strong for a man who had only before been weak and dying of starvation. 

“I am Marcus and I freed you. Come, we have much to discuss and you, good sir, are in dire need of a bath and dinner. I will explain your newfound situation after you have eaten, I imagine you are starving right now.”

Ross’s eye stung for a moment and all of a sudden, the light was too bright.

“Yes, nasty side effect but you’ll get used to it,” said Marcus leading the way out of the mass grave and towards a pair of horses. “I assume you can ride, a man of your class surely.”

Ross nodded and mounted. The horses didn’t seem to like him or Marcus but obeyed nonetheless. 

They arrived at some large chateau tucked deep away on some large piece of land. Ross wasn’t sure how it could have survived the Revolution that had taken place only just a few short years ago. 

Once inside, Marcus gave orders for the servants to get Ross cleaned up, dressed, and presentable for a man of his station. Ross felt as though he were being pulled along for some ride as the servants led him away and took their tasks. They all regarded him with the cool indifference that a servant should. 

Once they were done, Ross found himself in a large sitting room done up in the typical French aristocratic style he had come to know from past visits to France as a youth. 

Marcus was waiting for him with a glass of brandy in hand and motioned Ross to sit and handed him the glass. 

“Now, I will get straight to the point. You are likely feeling a little strange. Everything seems too loud, too bright, and your sense of smell too keen. That is because they are,” he motioned someone to come into the room. It was a woman but not one of the servants but certainly someone of the lower classes. “Observe and do not move,” ordered Marcus, and Ross felt compelled to obey.

Then to Ross’s horror and fascination, Marcus bit the woman’s neck and began drinking her blood. The woman moaned in pleasure. Ross briefly recalled something similar and brought a hand up to his own neck and felt the marks on it of a bite that he had received. Ross felt his hunger more intensely and he became aroused. His eyes focused on the point where blood was now trickling down the woman’s neck.

Marcus looked up with black eyes, “Come, you must be starving,” he said and Ross nearly ran over as Marcus handed him the limp woman’s body. Ross felt his gums ache and his teeth growing. Instinct took over and he bit the woman and felt her give out another moan of pleasure as he began to drink. He felt himself growing hard against her, rutting as he drank. Lost in the consuming pleasure of it all, Ross nearly failed to notice the woman was dying. He pulled back to look at her and for a brief moment, he thought he saw Demelza in the woman’s appearance and shook his head in the horror of what he’d just done. 

He put her down on the chair nearby and turned again in horror. The woman was now dead and for a moment he had thought he had killed his beloved and it sickened him. 

“An interesting first feeding,” said Marcus, “I say, you certainly have a deep attachment to your wife for someone so reckless and passionate, Ross Roldark.”

Ross turned, his face full of anger, “What have you done to me?”

“I’ve made you a vampire. A new obedient soldier for my army,” replied Marcus but this time with a hit of an Italian in his accent.

“I am not your servant!” yelled Ross. 

“Sit and be quiet,” ordered Marcus and Ross felt compelled to do just that, all the while fuming with rage. 

“As a new vampire, your emotions will be heightened, along with everything else about you. You have strength greater than any man, speed, and senses. You cannot die, you will not age, and you will be eternally hungry for blood. As your sire, I am your Master and you will obey me, whether you like it or not. You will grow in your own talents and power in time and until you are stable and able to control your vampire nature, you will be sticking close to me for the next couple hundred years. I’ve lost too many of my soldiers to take any chances. Now, I can feel you have many questions. I can answer the biggest one now, no, you cannot return to Cornwall, you cannot see your family again, you might as well forget you were ever married or had a family because I assure you, that will only cause you pain. I should know, I once was the Emperor of Roman as Marcus Aurelius Antoninus. I don’t even want to get started on the tragedies that befell my family after I was dead to them. I can see your desire to speak, go on ask your questions.”

“Why did you do this to me?”

“I saw potential in you for greatness among our kind.”

“You didn’t give me a choice!”

“The Fates don’t give us choices, Ross, surely you know that or else why would you have done something like marry your servant? You two were bound to one another for the moment you met.”

“I cannot stay here,” Ross said as he moved to get up. He needed to return home to his family, to Demelza - she must be so worried about him or worse, angry.

“You will stay and I can see I am going to need to take some slight more elevated steps in order to control you,” said Marcus with a sigh. His accent was now fully Latin.

The older vampire got up and leaned in front of Ross to look him right in the eye. Ross felt as though some power was locking their gaze together. 

“Ross Poldark, you do not have a family. You were never married. You are my servant and you obey me and serve my will. All of your memories of your life in Cornwall are hereby blocked until such time as I allow them to return.”

Ross felt as though a dark cloud was washing over his mind and then a great hole settled into his heart. A tear leaked from the corner of his eye as the connection with Marcus lifted. Ross felt hollow inside and with it hate formed for the vampire before him. 

“Now, clean up that body and return to your room, you’ll need rest for tomorrow, we will travel to Prussia.”

***

At Nampara, a letter arrived for Demelza. Upon reading it, she fell to the floor in a sobbing mess. Ross had died while in a French prison. Demelza felt a hole form in her heart for which she knew would never be filled again.


	2. Part 2

Ten years had passed since Ross had died and Demelza had not been able to sleep through the night without dreaming of him. They were more nightmares than dreams though. She’d learned that the French had tortured and starved Ross to death. She cried for the horrors he must have faced in his final month. Night after night, she dreamed of him dying in some terrible way, all the while begging her to save him. 

She had been racked with guilt over her anger at him for not returning in time for Isabell’s birth. She had continued to raise the children but she no longer sang to them. Try as she might, she faked any joy she had. Everything she did always had the air of sorrow lingering in her heart. No matter how much love she showed or felt from her children, the piece that had been owned by Ross was dead and atrophied. She would never again love another so long as she lived. 

Soon enough, she was alone in the house as all of the children went off to school. She knew Ross would want them to have the best education they could. Everything she did was for the best for her family and her people. 

She ran the farm and mine as she had when Ross was in parliament but now she relied on the other men she trusted to assist her in the bigger decisions that had to be made. There were some hard years and more than a few deaths to deal with. Her brothers and their families helped her in ways she could never properly thank them for. 

When things were at their worst, Sir George Warleggen had even proposed marriage to her. She nearly kicked him out the door but thankfully Dwight and Caroline were there to help her and tell George off. 

Most evenings, Demelza was home alone. She did not keep servants at the home anymore. With so little to care for, she could manage on her own. On this night, the winds from the North were kicking up a storm such as she had not seen since Julia’s birth. The animals were restless and causing a ruckus. 

Demelza tied her dressing gown around her tighter, lit a lantern, and went out to check on them. She stepped outside and saw a man standing at the gate. She could not see his face in the darkness of the night but his frame was familiar to her in a way she could not quite identify. 

“Good, sir!” She called out, “What are you doing? This storm is going to be a dangerous one. Please come in and out of the rain and wait for me while I check on the animals.”

The man didn’t move. He seemed transfixed as he tracked her movements to the barns. 

Demelza should have felt fear about this man who had not announced himself but oddly, did not. She came out of the barn to find that he had gone inside the house. Some strange anticipation hummed in her veins. 

She came in, “Sir?” she called out and came into the parlor to find the man with his back to her. He was looking about the room. His hat in his hands now revealed a dark head of curls. Her heart stopped.

“Ross?” she asked breathlessly. Ross was dead. He was dead. They said he was dead. She must be seeing a ghost or maybe one of the fae folk. 

The man turned and she saw that he had Ross’s scar, chin, and nose but his eyes - they were not his eyes. The hazel eyes of green, brown, and gold did not have the softness of love and affection that Demelza knew. They were the eyes of a predator, eyes like the ones her father had when he was on the drink.

He didn’t do or say anything but continued to look around the room for a moment but then he stalked swiftly towards her. Demelza felt herself stepping backward as he came closer until her back hit a wall. He caged her in taking her hips into his hands and breathing deep into the scent of her at her neck. Fear and arousal pumped through Demelza’s veins. 

“I know you,” Ross rasped into her ear, “I followed your scent from Falmouth.” He nosed along her neck, “Ocean breeze, wildflowers,” he breathed in deep, “Who are you, why does your scent drive me mad with want?”

Demelza felt tears falling down her face. This was Ross but not her Ross. This Ross had forgotten her. This Ross was a creature unfamiliar to her and feral. 

He pulled back to look her in the eye and seeing her tears, reached up and wiped them away, “Tell me, who are you and what you are doing in my house.”

She felt compelled to answer, “Demelza, your wife - I live here with your children, your family.”

Her answer seemed to confuse him and he shook his head. “I have no wife, no family,” his reply was almost mechanical - though it had been rehearsed many times before. 

“I am and you do! Can you not remember? Ross, dear Ross please, you must remember!” She grabbed onto his coat and shook him a little, trying to rattle something loose in his mind. 

He cupped her face and shushed her as though she were a wild animal he was calming, “I cannot remember but I feel what you say is true.” He ran his thumb along her lower lip, “He took so many things from me,” he said resting his forehead against hers, “ And yet, I found you. I know you, in my heart, I know you. I long for you.”

“They told me you were dead,” she cried.

“I am,” he whispered.

Ross looked back at her blue-green eyes and then to her lips, cupped her face, and kissed her with all the passion that he had given her the very first time he’d kissed her in this very parlor fifteen years ago. He pulled back to look her in the eyes, “I must have you.”

Demelza felt a passion inside her she had thought was long since been extinguished, “I live only for you.”

Ross pulled open the dressing gown that Demelza wore and slid it off her, leaving her only in her shift. All the while, his eyes looked into hers. Her breath coming in pants, her nipples hard as acorns, and her core slick with need. He pulled the tie on the shift and it fell softly to the tiled floor. 

It felt like the first time all over again for Demelza. His touch was light as he ran a finger down her neck, over her breast bone, and circled her nipple.

“So responsive,” he whispered against her lips, “And if I touch you here, what will I find?” he asked as his finger traveled all the way to the apex of her thighs and into her slit, “A warm honey pot, all ready for me.” She cried out as his fingers went deeper and his thumb grazed her clit. 

He kissed her once more, his tongue mimicking the actions of his fingers inside of her, his other hand cupped her breast and fingers toyed with her nipple.

Having her lover here and in this moment and not just in a dream or memory became overwhelming for Delemza and she felt herself coming to climax quickly but Ross didn’t stop. She came again and in short order. 

Her leg could no longer support her and Ross picked her up. He continued to toy with her clit as he carried her to the Master bed-chamber. 

“I need to taste you,” He said as he lay her down on the edge of the bed and kneeled before her bringing his mouth to her slit and began to lick and tease her once more until she was sobbing mess crying for another climax.

“Please, Ross, I need you inside me, I shall die if I do not!”

“I cannot refuse you anything,” he said, kissing her inner thigh. 

He didn’t waste time in removing his clothes and climbed onto her - skin to skin, heart to heart, and sex to sex. He let out a moan of pure pleasure once he was fully inside her.

He kissed her lips, her neck, and her breasts. She drove her hands into her hair, wrapped her leg around his hips, and cried out into his neck as he touched places inside her that only he could reach. 

“Mine,” Ross worshiped, kissing her breasts and sucking on a nipple, “You’re mine.”

“Yours,” Demelza moaned, running her fingernails down his back, “Only yours.”

He paused, his green eyes golden and bright with love, “Oh, Siren of the Cornish Sea, your blue eyes haunted me in my dreams. I didn’t know what was missing from my heart until I saw you. I cannot lose you again,” he whispered, “Demelza, I must bind you to me, forever.”

“Forever, I’m yours forever,” she said looking into the dark green of his eyes, now more familiar in the heat of their lovemaking. 

“Release for me, my mate,” he said as he reached between them and rubbed her clit - and she did. He then released inside of her as he bit her neck and she came again with a cry.

In a fury of memories, Ross saw their history together. He saw the first time he pulled her from the dog fight to dancing with her at a wedding to her wearing that blue dress to kissing her to making love to her to their wedding to the first time he told her he loved her to the birth of a daughter, Julia and on and on the memories streamed all the joy and all the sorrow he had caused her. 

He could not believe that he had forgotten her and knew that he had not done so willingly. He knew she was deep in his bones. He had caught the scent of her as soon as the ship he was on was in the range of Cornwall. Her scent drifted on the wind and brought with it a sense of longing and desire he hadn’t known before. His chest ached and no sooner had he landed in the port of Falmouth than he followed the scent of the ocean breeze and wildflowers. 

Ross drank from Demelza, releasing his venom into her knowing how it would make her feel, what it was doing to her. He would not be parted from her again. He would keep her with him. He knew what he had to do and he didn’t even pause to ask. Like so long ago when he had kissed her when she was his maid, he was hers then as she would be for all time. 

He pulled back and looked down at her with black eyes. Too drugged out to cry, she watched as he bit his lip with elongated fangs, “Drink,” he ordered as he bent down to kiss her. She took his lip and drank his blood. 

After a moment he pulled back, his eyes returned to the dark green, “I bind you as my blood mate, now and forever.”

Demelza felt something settle over her being and she felt Ross more keenly than she had ever felt him before. They fell back into another round of loving making but this time slower. Ross took his time in bringing her to release over and over again. All the while whispering how she was his and he would not be parted with her. 

Eventually, they fell into a slumber, wrapped up in each others arms. 

***

  
The following morning, Ross was awoken by someone gently shaking him. Expecting only to find his mate in his arms, he was surprised to find it was his Sire, Marcus standing over them. 

“Thought you could escape me, did you? Now, look at what you’ve done. Ruined her and her life yet again,” his Master said shaking his head. “I’ll have to rid you of those memories yet again and then deal with her.”

“No,” protested Ross in a hushed voice, he did not want his love to see this. “Please, I cannot put her through our parting again. I cannot live with this hole in my chest.”

Marcus looked over Demelza, “You’ve blood bound her, haven’t you.” It wasn’t a question. 

Ross nodded and looked down at her and looked back, “It was instinct.”

“Her blood undid all my hard work.”

“Her scent beckoned me to her, her blood freed me.”

“You are still too young to understand all this. Now, she’s bound to you eternally. She’ll never die so long as you live and she’ll never age beyond what she is now. She’ll outlive your children and all the people in her life. She’ll never get sick and she’ll only ever be able to bear your offspring. That’s what you’ve done.”

“And you would have me parted from her again?” hissed Ross, “All for your selfish need to be in control.”

“And what of your selfish need to claim her? Could she not have had a long happy life and a peaceful death thinking you were already dead?” 

“Do I get a say in any of these matters?” asked a sleepy Demelza. She’d been listening to the whole conversation. 

The two vampires looked at her, both with some amount of shame.

“Are you the reason my husband is this way? Did you take him from me?”

Marcus bowed, “Your husband was two breaths away from death when I found him. Yes, I claimed him and he’s now my servant.”

Demelza could feel Ross bristle at being called a servant by this man. 

“He was mine first,” Demelza said, calming, “He’d declared so many times.”

Marcus nodded, “When he was human but he’s not human anymore. He died, killed by me, and when that happened, your marriage vows were ended.”

“This is pointless to argue over, what I have done cannot be undone,” said Ross.

“This is true but I do believe you need a lesson in humility and she’s going to have to pay the price for that lesson,” Marcus grabbed Ross’s chin and forced him to look into his eyes, “You’ve spent the night with yet another whore and it’s time to leave. You have no wife, you are not blood mated, and you have no family or children. Get dressed and wait for me downstairs.”

Marcus then looked at Demelza, “You’ll let him go, forget he was here, live another ten years here and then go to the nunnery at St Angela’s in Ireland. There you will wait to be collected by me. Ross Poldark is dead, you are not blood bonded. You will live a happy life without him and care for his children and estate. I will make sure your descendants are cared for.”

***

When Demelza woke the next morning. She could not remember coming to bed, nor how she had gotten into such a state of undress. There was an ache between her legs and marks all over her body. Someone had come into her home last night and had their way with her but she could not remember. All she knew was that she only ever felt like this when she was with Ross. She looked in the mirror to see a familiar set of bruises on her breast where she knew Ross liked to mark her. A sorrow came over her and she cried harder than she had when she had learned that Ross had died. 

***

Ross followed Marcus on horseback and all the while caught the scent of something familiar on the air - ocean breeze and wildflowers.. All of his instincts were telling him to turn back from where he’d come from, the little cottage by the Cornish sea. Only his obedience to his Master kept him from doing so. His secret hate for the vampire who had cursed him grew more with each step he took.


	3. Part 3

The years moved on for Ross like sand passing through an hourglass. He grew strong in his vampire abilities and his control over his hunger came slowly with time. As much as he hated being controlled by Marcus for the first hundred years or so, it was the older vampire's guidance that kept Ross from causing real harm to himself and humanity. 

Marcus taught him caution, control, and calmness. As the ages changed, so did human society. All of the things he had tried to change in parliament when he was a human came into being. Humanity grew more civilized and equal but then it also created more war and weapons of mass destruction. He would never forget seeing the gas used in the First World War or what it did to the soldiers. 

Before long, over two hundred years had gone by and humanity was in a place where one could live in complete isolation without anyone noticing you were even there. Ross had grown powerful enough to no longer be affected by the commands of his Master, which Marcus boasted was a success and not a failure. 

In his time as a vampire, he had learned the best ways to feed without drawing attention and had developed a special hospital which he and the over vampire called “The Vegetable Garden” which was a long term care facility for humans who were only alive by the graces of medical machinery. They were effectively braindead. A vampire could then come and feed but only the ones with the most control.

When at last he had been free of Marcus’s control, he had returned to the cottage in Cornwall but found only a derelict house and estate gone completely to ruin in much the same way he had found it when he had returned from the American War.

Upon searching the remains of the rubble, he found a gold ring among the roses. Someone had buried it long ago and time had resurfaced it. There was an inscription inside, “My beloved.” It was his mother’s wedding ring, that much he knew. His father must have buried it long ago. He found a gold chain and took to wearing it. Somehow, it gave him comfort to have a piece of his family with him again.

Ross set about the task of rebuilding his family home and bringing it into the twenty-first century. Every so often, he would catch the glint of something red out of the corner of his eye and hear the soft singing of a sweet cornish voice. Ghosts of the past coming to welcome him home. 

***

On the other side of the Irish sea, Demelza slept. She had followed Marcus’s orders and gone to the nunnery. There the old witches that inhabited the place set about a spell that would have her sleep until Marcus came to retrieve her. Two hundred and some odd years would pass while she rested deep in the crypts below the Nunnery. 

When at last he did arrive, Demelza needed a good few years to acclimatize for the century, language, and society. She did so under Marcus’s care. She knew she was being readied to some vampire elite, to become his companion. She was special in her immortality and could only be bonded to just one vampire. Marcus took great care to make sure all of her questions were answered, that she had the best education of the age and a purpose. She didn’t want to be some vampire’s sex slave. Marcus assured her that’s not what she would be.

“I don’t know how to make you understand this without giving too much away,” sighed Marcus after she had threatened to leave, “When you meet him, you’ll understand why I have done everything that I have done. I hope that at the end the two of you will not hate me so much as you do right now.”

“I wish you would stop talking in riddles, Marcus, how much longer?”

“Once you passed your driver's tests and your basic education exams - then I will arrange the bonding ceremony.”

“Is this anything like a marriage? I told you, I will not marry again. I will love but only one man the rest of this hellish eternity I’ve been cursed with.”

“I should have just woken you up and taken you to him, why did I bother acclimatizing you to this century, just finish the tests and you’ll understand. You’re not going anywhere unless I say so.”

***

It had taken the better part of two years for Ross to arrange all the repairs Nampara had needed. All the while he was busy getting the land ready to be farmed. He’d purchased a horse, a mare named Penny, and had been in the market for a dog. Something about the farm made him think it needed a dog. He finally found a litter of mixed breed puppies and was just waiting on one to be ready to part from its mother. 

Ross was finishing the final touches in the master bathroom when his phone rang. 

“Hello, Marcus,” he said, “What can I do for you?”

“Still the obedient servant, I have one last thing for you to do before I fully release you from my care.”

“You can’t actually order me around anymore old man but what do you want?”

“You’re being inducted into the Vampire Council, you need to come to London by Friday.”

“And to what do I owe this great honor?”

“Years of dedicated service and my apology for my many wrongs against you,” there was a pause, “I am going to be returning something to you that I took a long time ago. You weren’t ready for it then but you are now. Is your home finished?”

“Nearly, it’s just missing some finishing touches.”

“Then I hope what I will return to you will give your home just the final touch it dearly needs.”

***

The ceremony was to take place at an art gallery. It was one that Ross himself had several paintings in under numerous fake names. He had taken up landscape painting in the 19th century and then abstract art in the 20th. 

Upon entering the building a familiar scent caught his attention. The scent of an ocean breeze and wildflowers. It was the one that had been calling to him since he had left Nampara and was forced to follow Marcus. He followed it all the way to one of the large galleries. 

There, standing in front of one of Ross’s own paintings of the cliffs in Cornwall, was a beautiful, slender woman of fiery red hair in a white dress with cornflowers on it. His heart thudded in his chest. She stood with her hands clasped behind her back, her long stately neck looking up at the giant painting of the stormy cliffs. There was an air of sadness about her and all he wanted to do was gather her up in his arms and hold her.

From her scent, he knew she was still human but changed in some way. He could also smell his own scent upon her. 

He took a step into the room, just loud enough not to startle her but soft enough not to pull her out of her contemplation. 

***

Demelza was not ready for this day. She did not want to be going to be bonded to a vampire for the rest of eternity. No matter what Marcus said about her growing used to it in time, she would not ever give her heart to another. The ceremony was to take place in half an hour and she and Marcus had arrived early. It had given her time to explore the gallery.

She had found one painting of sea cliffs most compelling. She knew it was the cliffs above Hendrawna Cove by Nampara. She had wanted to visit her old home on the way to London but Marcus said it wasn’t a good idea. This was almost second best. She looked at the name, “Grace Venor”. That was Ross’s mother’s maiden name but none of her children’s descendants had the name Grace Venor. She had memorized them all and carried copies of their photos and biographies in her smartphone. When she felt their loss, she would read them and have a moment to cry. 

She heard the steps of someone entering the room. Then she felt whoever it was staring at her and not the painting. She turned to see who it was and her heart stopped. The familiar body of a man she knew so well stood before her. It was Ross or at least someone who looked very much like him. 

“Ahh, there you are,” said Marcus coming into the room, “Excuse us, Ross, I need a word with this lady. I will introduce you two at the ceremony.”

Marcus quickly rushed Demelza out of the room and into another before she could protest.

“What’s going on Marcus? Was that actually my Ross?”

“Yes and sadly he won’t remember you at this time, not without a bit of help from you but you can’t force it. He’ll need to remember in his own time or when he feeds from you. He’s too strong for me to recall my previous memory blocks from him. I can pull them from you though, please remember the night he claimed you.”

All at once, the memories of blood bonding with ross came back to her, “You cruel wicked man,” she hissed, “All these years we could have been together and now you bring us back?”

“He wasn’t ready, he was still so young and out of control. His blood bonding with you that night was proof he didn’t have what it took to be a cunning vampire yet. Cunning is what we have to be to survive eternity. I should know, I have been around since before the fall of Rome.”

“And what is he going to do when you try to bond me to another?”

“Oh Demelza, for a smart woman you can be somewhat stupid at times. You’re here for him.”

“But he doesn’t know we are bonded.”

“No he doesn’t but he’s going to feel pulled to you and with any luck, his resolve will fall apart before the end of the night and he will feed on you but until he does that, he’s not likely to remember and you can’t say anything.”

“You are truly a horrible creature.”

“When you two are sitting in your parlor thirty years from now with a clutch of children between you, then we can discuss how horrible I am again. For now, you need to play the role of the servant again, can you do that?”

“Be Ross’s servant? Are you kidding me? Do you know nothing about us?”

“I know everything about you two, now can you do as I asked?”

“Of course I can but when he figures it all out, do you have any idea how mad he’s going to be?”

“I think you’ll find that Ross has tempered his anger over the centuries but yes, he’s likely to be very mad but he’s going to be a hell of a lot more happy than angry. After this long, I truly want that for both of you.”

“But you would have rather he never blood bonded me in the first place.”

“I am Roman, I know that you can’t fight fate. I was only trying to postpone it a little longer.”

“Fine, let’s get this charade over with.”

*** 

Ross stared at the place the woman had been standing and fought all of his instincts to follow. He looked at his watch, it was nearly time for the ceremony. 

He made his way to the auditorium and found all of the council members waiting for him. He took his assigned seat and waited for the proceedings. He has been to enough of these meetings in the past to know the flow. 

The meeting began and the first order was his induction. He took his oughts, received his brand, and signet ring, and took his new seat on the bench. It wasn’t unlike how his class operated in parliament back in the 19th century. 

At the end of the meeting, Marcus was called in and brought the red-haired woman with him.

“As a thank you for all of his services the last two hundred and fifty years, the council is presenting Ross Poldark with a companion, one of which he will be allowed to blood mate bond with should it be agreeable to both of them. Ross, I present to you, Demelza.”

The woman was giving Marcus the dirtiest of looks he had ever seen but when she turned to look at Ross, he saw something very different in her eyes. He saw longing. 

Ross made his way. He could not refuse her and found that he would not. He felt pulled to her in a way that no other had pulled him. She reached out her hand in the way a woman from his time would have and he took her knuckles and kissed them.

“Your servant, mam,” he said.

She then took his arm and sat next to him and the council adjourned. What followed next was a typical vampire soiree. All the while, Ross only wanted to leave in order to get to know the woman who was now bonded to him. Did she know what was expected of her as his companion?

“Demelza, would you mind if we left. I feel that there’s much we should discuss.”

There he was, the old gentry Ross Poldark, hiding in modern men’s clothes. 

“Of course,” she led the way back to the room with the sea cliff painting. 

“Do you like this painting?” he asked.

“It reminds me of home,” she said in her old Cornish accent. 

“You’re from Cornwall then?”

“Illogan .”

“That’s not far from where this was painted,” he said wistfully, “It’s one of mine.”

“Is it now?” that actually surprised her. She had no idea Ross could paint. 

“Yes, see here,” he pointed to a small house, “That’s my family home.”

“Nampara.”

Ross looked surprised, “How did you know?”

“I have been given some of your histories, they wanted me prepared for you.”

He nodded, “How old are you?”

“33.”

“That’s how old I was when... It doesn’t really matter.”

“Our age difference doesn’t bother you?”

“Age is just a number.”

They had a moment of silence looking up at the painting.

“Do you know what’s expected of us?” he whispered against her neck.

“Yes,” it reminded Demelza too much of the first time they were together. 

  
“Do you know what they say of us?”

  
“And are you prepared for it?” Ross could see goosebumps on her skin. He’d been eager to get her alone since first laying eyes on her. 

“Yes,” she said breathlessly. 

“I promise it won’t hurt and that I’ll be gentle,” he trailed a finger down her arm, “I’ll only do it when necessary. I can go weeks without needing to feed. I don’t want to take too much.”

He was talking about feeding and Demelza could not help but remember the similar conversation about when he took her virginity. 

“I won’t force you to do anything you aren’t willing to give.”

Demelza couldn’t take another moment without feeling his lips as she turned and kissed him. He responded with enthusiasm and pushed her against the wall next to the painting. He kissed her like a man starved but even still, she felt him pull back and rested his forehead against hers.

“What is it about you that draws me in so deep? I feel as though I was living in a fog until I saw you and then it was as if the sun had broken through and dispelled all the clouds away,” whispered Ross and he nuzzled her nose.

When had he become so poetic? Demelza thought. 

“I was meant for you and you for me,” she whispered back.

Ross stepped back, “I don’t want to rush this, if we are to be bonded, then we should get to know one another first and not let our instincts get the better of us.”

Demelza smiled, this was her Ross for sure but he seemed to have mellowed with age. He was right, they were strangers yet again - strangers who knew every inch of the other's skin (even if he didn’t remember that he knew her). She nodded, “We have all the time in the world.”

Ross was somewhat amazed at his own reserve. The kiss had certainly proved they were compatible and that there was a chemical attraction between them. 

“Would you like to come to Nampara?” he asked, holding out his hand for her to take.

Demelza smiled and nodded and took his hand. 


	4. Part 4

When Ross had been renovating Nampara, he hadn’t ever planned on anyone else living there. He hadn’t designed a guest room, though Demelza wasn’t intended to be a guest by the Vampire Council. The gentleman that still was within him would not allow her to be used. If that kind of relationship grew between them, then he would re-discuss the sleeping arrangements. 

He brought her back to his apartment in London for the night and quickly set to the task of ordering a bedroom set for the spare room he had not yet finished finding a purpose for. It had once been a servant's quarters but he would not think of Demelza as a servant. He no longer needed one and could be self-sufficient. He would be hers since she was the one who was actually there to help him with his basic needs. 

“What’s on your mind, Ross,” she had asked, stepping into the kitchen of the apartment. 

“Just thinking about how to make this work, I haven’t lived with anyone in years,” he answered and then showed her the furniture he was thinking of ordering for her, “Here, since you’re the one who will be using it - what do you think of this set?”

Even though Demelza had been awake and active in this century for a few years now, she still marveled at technology. The bedroom set was a simple dark wood and looked very much like something Ross would have liked. She took note of the price, “Oh no, there’s no way I can ask you to buy something so expensive.”

“It’s nothing, money isn’t a concern for me now,” he said, “Do you like it though?”

“Yes, I do. It would look good with white linens,” she turned to him, “You should know, I have not been awake in this century all that long but women today, I know they have liberties and freedoms that we didn’t have two centuries ago. I would like to be able to explore options for myself.”

He smiled, “I meant when I said that I do not wish to trap you. Did you want to have a career, go to a university, or have a business of your own? I have attended various universities over the years, it’s an experience I highly recommend.” He covered her hand with his.

The familiar heat of attraction passed through both of them. This older Ross seemed to have dropped his gentry pretenses completely. The one thing that remained between them was that Ross was still more worldly than Demelza but was still happy to help her grow.

“Nothing will be denied you,” said Ross, “I am your humble servant.”

Demelza’s heart lurched at those all too familiar words and tears pricked at the edges of her eyes. 

“And I yours,” she replied.

“Surely not, you are too fine a lady to be a servant,” said Ross grinning and getting up to pour her a cup of coffee. 

“I was indeed. I was a kitchen maid, a cook, and a farmhand,” she said, taking the cup.

“Hard work those things,” he paused as though trying to recall something, “I had a maid who did those things but for the life of me, I cannot remember her. It’s like there’s a hole in my memory just around her. I can remember other servants but not her. I know she was there but everything is blank. The thing about becoming a vampire is that everything becomes sharper. Things I had long forgotten about my childhood could suddenly be completely recalled in all the detail of a cinema film. This strange hole concerns me.”

“Maybe you repressed it?” Demelza offered, knowing full well exactly what was causing it. She could see it pained him.

He took a sip of his own coffee and stood beside her and rubbed her back idly with his other hand and made a thoughtful humming sound, “Possibly, but it’s more likely that Marcus meddled with my head. He used to do that a lot when I was young. He’d often have to correct my behavior with force. I was somewhat wild as a young vampire, always running off and getting into trouble.”

Demelza was somewhat perplexed by his calmness about the whole thing, “And it doesn’t bother you that he might have taken away something important?”

Ross shook his head, “No, he usually had a good reason for it. I would ask him about it but I have grown to the point that he could no longer remove any blocks that he put on me. I suspect that if he took something away, it was likely because whatever it was causing me either pain or anger - both of which have a history of causing me to be impulsive and rash. My great Aunt Agatha used to call it the Poldark Curse. Truly, I think it was just the unruly Irish blood in us.”

“And you don’t do those things anymore?” Demelza asked with a smirk.

“Oh, I am still all those but now I tend to look before I leap - take you for example, when I was younger I would have already tried to convince you to sleep with me rather than taking the time to get to know you. We both have immortality, we might as well slow things down and do them right.”

Demelza let out a laugh, “I suppose time has tempered you.”

“Sometimes, I get the feeling you know more about me than you are letting on. I feel a bit at a disadvantage in regards to how little I know about you,” he said, leaning back against the fridge. 

“I did spend a few years getting to know about you before the council brought me to you, so in a way, I do know more than you.”

Ross seemed unsatisfied with her response but decided to drop it for now. He would uncover the truth in time and after a couple hundred years, he knows that patience truly is a virtue. Ross then noticed that she was still wearing the same dress from the night before.

“I just realized that you don’t have any belongings, do you?”

Demelza looked down at her cornflower dress and let out a laugh, “No, nor any money. I have some fake IDs in my purse but I am truly dependent upon you from here on out.” But that was nothing new to her, Ross would always provide for her. 

“But you don’t want to be?”

“Would you?”

He smiled, “I should think not. No fear, I have money that makes money after centuries of investments. The vampires have learned how to cultivate wealth, we have our own banks and everything. You’ll want for nothing and eventually, when you make your own wealth, you’ll be taken care of too.”

Ross spoke in terms of when and not if. It brought Demelza comfort to hear him speak so confidently about her future.

Demelza walked over to him and wrapped her arms around him. She breathed in his scent. Gone was the scent of mine dust but the scent of earth and a stormy ocean wind was still there. She let out a pleasant hum and he wrapped his arms around her in return. 

“This all feels too familiar,” he murmured into her hair.

“A good familiar?” she asked looking up into his dark green eyes.

“I would venture to say so,” he said then kissed her head. Keeping his hands off of her was going to prove to be much more challenging than he had thought. So far, she had instigated both a kiss and an embrace and she did so in a way that made him think she was more familiar with him than just learning about his history. 

“How about we go shopping for you today here in London and then tomorrow we will head out to Cornwall, that’ll give the delivery time to arrive and you’ll be set for life in the country,” he said as he untangled himself from her and went about getting their breakfast ready.

“Sounds good to me, are you cooking?” she asked, curiously.

“That I am, I find I quite enjoy it, how about a nice French omelet?”

Demelza was impressed, the Ross she knew had no idea how to cook. Then again, it looked as if the task of cooking had been made much easier since the days of woodfire ovens. “You don’t want me to do it?”

“Heavens no, I don’t want you to do anything unless you want to.”

“I didn’t know vampires ate food.”

“As long as we keep a healthy diet of blood in our system, our bodies work pretty much as normal as they did when we were human. The only difference now is that we need the life force that’s in the blood to keep our bodies working. We aren’t alive anymore but we aren’t exactly dead either.”

“When do you think you’ll need blood again?”

Ross paused what he was doing, “Soon, I imagine. I can already start to feel the signs of hunger. Now that you and I are companions, I won’t be allowed to visit the Vegetable Garden anymore.”

“I heard that you were the one that came up with that idea, it’s both an act of compassion and a genius move for the vampires.”

“That’s what Marcus said too.”

“He’s the one who said it to me, though he had to explain the pun in the name. I am still learning all about science and modern medicine, Dwight would have loved this age.” 

Ross froze. 

Demelza knew she’d said too much by his body’s posture. 

“It would appear you do know more about me than I first guessed,” he said turning around, “Exactly when were you born?”

She did her best to put on her card face, “1770.”

“I was born in 1760, there stands a chance you would have known of me back then.”

“More than a chance, Ross but that’s all I can say for now. Yes, I did know ye and very well indeed,” her old Cornish accent and way of speaking was starting to come through as it often did when she was nervous or upset. 

“And did you know his wife?” 

“Yes, Ross, you need to stop now and trust that those holes you spoke of in your memory will be filled in time.”

“You can fill them, can’t you.”

“In more ways than one but you need to let it come in its own time. All I can say is that you and I have been here before and this time, I aim to do it right.”

Ross blinked a few times and looked at her dress, “Cornflowers, you like them don’t you.”

“I love all flowers.”

“And arranging them?”

“Certainly.”

He turned back around to finish up the omelets, “How well did you know Dwight.”

“Well enough to trust him in asking him to help me deliver my children.”

Ross turned around, “How many did you have?”

“Four but only three lived to adulthood.”

“And their names?”

Demelza took a deep breath.

“I’m sorry, I am sure it’s a painful thing to remember now.”

“It is but it isn’t. I may have outlived them but I still carry their memory with me.”

“And their father?”

She leveled Ross with a look, “You need to stop asking questions.”

Ross set the plates down, “I’m sorry. I am just piecing together a picture of you from back then and it’s starting to form an image that’s beginning to make logical sense. I believe you when you say we knew each other and I would like to know how far that familiarity went.”

“It’s all connected Ross and trust that in time that it’ll make sense.”

“You know that memories are transferred through blood, right?” His tone was somewhat irritated.

“Yes.”

“So, when I feed on you, I will know then.” He got up and stood in front of her with his arms on the table behind her, caging her in. This was the predator side of the vampire coming out. 

“Yes, and I am counting on that,” she said confidently looking into his eyes.

“So, why not get it over with now?” he said, leaning forward to whisper in her ear. 

“If that’s what you want,” she said, turning her head to face him, her lips a hair's breadth from his. 

What he wanted was more than just a simple feeding. He wanted to pull her into his bedroom, tear off her clothes and explore her body. He wanted to be deep inside of her, feel her releasing around him and then bite her.

“No, that’s not what I want,” he said, pulling away and putting distance between them. 

Her hand shot out and grabbed his shirt and pulled him back to her. She cupped his face and kissed him.

“You know me and I want to know you,” he whispered against her lips.

“And you will,” she said, pulling back and turning around to start eating.

“Vixen,” he said, sitting down to his own plate.

The two of them ate together in comfortable silence.

“When we get to Nampara, let’s have this discussion again,” said Ross.

“I think that would be best, I am looking forward to seeing it.”

“Have you been there before?”

Demelza just laughed and didn't answer. Which meant yes, she had


	5. Part 5

Ross took Demelza shopping and whatever they couldn’t find that she needed, he assured her they would find it online. 

“Fashion has changed so much and yet so little,” she said looking at an 18th century looking coat on her phone.

“I agree but now people are free to wear whatever they want, mostly free of ridicule.”

They were driving along the highway to Cornwall. 

“This is so much better than a carriage,” she said, settling into the passenger seat, “Marcus made me learn to drive and get my license before I was allowed to meet you.”

“Such a practical man.”

“Truly, for a Roman Emperor.”

“He told you that, did he?”

“That and spent three years teaching me the whole world’s history from that age of Roman until last week. He certainly loves to talk about all the little intrigues. He told me all about what really led to the French revolution and how it was stopped from happening in England. He did forget that I was living during then and knew first hand how close we got here in Cornwall.”

“And how close did we get?”

She lifted a hand to show a scar, “Close enough that I got shot.”

“And who shot you?”

She didn’t answer. 

“Not me I hope.”

“No, not you but it wasn’t a happy time in my life.”

There was a silence. Ross felt deep inside of him that he may have been responsible for that unhappiness. 

As though sensing Ross’s dark thoughts, Demelza reached over and took his hand and hers and kissed it, “It was so long ago, centuries even. I hardly think about it anymore.”

“How bad was it?”

“Bad enough that I almost left my husband and took the children.”

“He must have done something truly despicable.”

She was silent for a while but squeezed his hand, “He was human and made mistakes. I made mistakes too.”

Ross felt a kind of relief. He was beginning to suspect that he was her husband but didn’t dare to ask it. Because that would mean the children were his. He thought about the ring hanging around his neck, hidden under his shirt. He looked over at her left hand, there was a lighter mark from where a ring was for many years.

“What happened to your wedding ring?” He asked.

She looked down at her hand and then out the window, “I buried it before I left my home. I never had my husband’s body to bury so the ring he gave me was the next best thing.”

“Under a rose bush?” he asked.

She turned back to look at him, “Yes, actually. How did you...” She trailed off as he pulled out the ring from around his neck and handed it to her.

“I found it while cleaning up, it was my mother’s. I thought maybe my father had buried it but now, I am beginning to piece things together.”

Rather than handing it back, she took it off the chain and put it on her finger, and left it there. 

“That answers the big question doesn’t it.”

“Yes, Ross.”

His hunger was returning.

“You said we’ve done this before, I think I know when it happened.”

“It was a dark and stormy night, just like when Julia was born.”

That caused him a pain he hadn’t known he could feel. Like the tearing open of an old wound.

“We lost her, didn’t we.”

Demelza whipped away a tear that had escaped, “We did.”

Ross took her hand again and squeezed it. 

The rest of the drive was in silence. Ross had so many more questions and knew now that he would need an answer to them sooner than later. He did not want Demelza alone in her pain. 

“It looks so different now,” she said as they drove along the paved road, “There are more houses, and look, pull over!”

Ross did and watched as she got out and walked towards the historical site of what was once Wheal Leisure.

“The first mine you resurrected,” she said walking up to the sign.

Ross looked at it, “And the first one I lost.”

“Good thing George is long since dead, I don’t think I could handle any more of your rivalry. It costs us too much.”

“Pompous little upstart,” said Ross in his great aunt’s voice.

Demelza let out a snort of a laugh and headed back to the car.

Ross followed after a moment and when they were back in the car said, “It looks a lot like it did when I first got home from the American War.”

“There’s no resurrecting it now, mines are so different now. Safer.”

“And you know this how?”

“I ran the mine in your absence for the better part of a decade, you don't’ think I would be interested in the state of mining in Cornwall today?”

“From a kitchen maid to a mine owner, the gentry must have been baffled by you.”

“Oh they were,” she said with a laugh, “But I had a good teacher.”

“And who was that?”

“You.”

Ross was silent again as they rounded a set of tight corners and then all at once Nampara came into view. 

Demelza was shocked at how much it had changed. Most of the old barns were gone but in their place was a new one and a new horse corral next to it. There was a new chicken house next to a new fence around the garden. They too were newly dug up and flourishing. The fields beyond the house were still incomplete disrepair but were blooming with wildflowers of all kinds and there appeared to be apiaries at the edges. 

She got out of the car and explored the yard. Ross followed a safe distance away, marveling at how she seemed to just fit here perfectly. 

“Marcus said that someone was missing from Nampara and that I would find what it was soon enough. It was you, you’re what’s missing from my home.”

He could see she was crying and went to hold her, “No, I’m alright,” she said, “I just got overwhelmed by it all. It’s like the first time all over again, only this time you brought me by car and not horse.”

“Do you want to see inside?” 

She nodded and followed him to the door, it was the same door on the outside but on the inside, the cottage looked nothing like it had. It was completely modernized with new paint and wallpaper. The floors were covered in hardwood and there were electric lights. The parlor looked a little more like it had. The fireplace was still there as were a few of the original furniture pieces like the dining table and the wooden bench chairs. Her little desk was still in the corner, though now it was cleaned up and where the spinnet had been there was now an upright piano. A couple of guitars hung on the wall.

“Do you play?” she asked, pointing to the musical instruments.

“I do, I found it brought me peace when I was feeling lonely,” he pulled one of the guitars off of the wall and tuned it. He then began to play a song that Demelza knew all too well and could not help but hum along to “ _I’d Pluck and fair Rose_.”

“You know it?” he asked, “I don’t know the words but I heard the song in my head over and over again. Enough to figure out the tune.” 

Demelza nodded and went to the piano and hit a C.

_I'd a pluck a fair rose for my love_   
_I'd a pluck a red rose blowin'_   
_Love's in my heart, I'm tryin' so to prove_   
_What you heart's knowin'_

Ross began to play along on the guitar

_I'd a pluck a finger on a thorn_   
_I'd a pluck a finger bleedin'_   
_Red is my heart, wounded and forlorn_   
_And your heart needin'_

_I'd a hold a finger to my tongue_   
_I'd a hold a finger waitin'_   
_My heart is sore, until it joins in song_   
_With your heart matin'_

After she was done, Ross set the guitar down and came over to her. She was crying in earnest now.

“That’s a special song for us, isn’t it,” he said softly as he held her.

She could only nod and buried her head into his chest.   
  
“We both had to become the parts of each other we needed when the other was gone,” she said at last, “I had to be a leader and you needed to become an artist.”

“You know, despite my memories being gone, now that I know that you were my wife and that we had a life together here, I am not feeling so desperate to have those holes filled in. I think the more time I spend with you, they are coming on their own,” he said softly. 

“You’ll need to feed sooner or later,” she said, “Then there will be no hiding them.”

“No, then there will be no hiding yours. They will be your side of the story, mine will still be locked away.” He paused and looked at her neck and saw the evidence of a vampire bite long since healed, “I’ve fed from you before, haven’t I.”

“Yes.”

Suddenly, her strange immortality made sense.

“I’ve already blood bonded you, haven’t I.”

“Yes.”

He let out a laugh, “So, all my attempts at being a gentleman and letting you choose and pretty much for not.”

“It’s true, you didn’t let me choose before but I choose to return to you anyways.”

“Marcus did this, kept us apart.”

“I was furious with him.”

“That explains the look you gave him at the ceremony. You had to keep it a secret from me until I figured it out on my own.”

“He thought you wouldn’t make it the night without biting me.”

“If I had been younger, he would have been right. No, I made it all the way home before I figured it out and I still haven’t fed off you. No wonder you knew what to expect.”

“So I can drop the pretenses now?” she asked with a grin.

“Welcome home, wife, now how about we get you unpacked and you can just feel free to reminisce all you wish. The more you do, the quicker my memories will return.”

“Do you still want me to sleep in a second bedroom?”

“No, I suspect we won’t,” he said stepping toward the door and then paused, “There was a blue dress, it was my mother’s,” he turned to face her, “You put it on.”

Demelza blushed hard, “And you took it off.”

“We’re never going to make it to dinner,” he muttered rushing out the door.

Demelza took a moment to explore the changes to the house. The kitchen was completely redone and modernized with all the modern appliances. There were even laundry facilities. She looked out the window and saw that there was a new clothesline, much nicer than the old one. The bed box that she had once slept in was now a pantry and looked like it had been for a long time now. 

As she was exploring the library - which had many of the old books still in it but they were now protected behind glass cabinets, she noticed the horse in the field. It was a dark chestnut with a black mane. 

“I’ll just put your bags upstairs, you can unpack at your leisure,” called our Ross heading up the stairs. 

She followed him into the Master bedroom. The original bed frame was still there but it looked to have a new mattress. Ross was standing exactly where he had when she had come into his room that fateful night. 

“How do you like it?” he asked, gesturing to the room. 

The fireplace was still there and the wardrobe but the dressing table was gone. 

“Are you looking for this?” he motioned to the door that wasn’t there before, “I’ve installed a bathroom.”

She looked and there was the dressing table but it was turned into the sink vanity.

“The whole house is a mix of the old you and the new,” she said in wonder.

“And I hope soon the old you and the new you?”

“The old me is still me, just with five years of modern living behind her. I slept most of the time we were parted, except for the fifteen years after I thought you had died. Marcus compelled me to leave and go to live with these nuns who were actually witches and they put me into some kind of Sleeping Beauty spell.”

“It’s probably for the best that you did, I think you would have hated the 20th century,” he said as he guided them out of the bathroom to show her the other changes he had made. Overall, she was impressed with how different it was. 

There was a knock at the door and Ross went to answer it. He came into the parlor and carried a massive chest.

“It’s from Marcus,” he said after he’d set it down. 

“It’s the chest from the library,” she said, “I packed it up and brought it with me to Ireland. I’d quite forgotten about it. He must have saved it for this time.”

“Marcus is exceptionally good at holding onto things, he made sure this property was safe.”

“And he promised to watch over the children and their descendants,” said Demelza, “He gave me all their biographies and pictures. I know where they all are and where they are buried.”

“Julia is in the Poldark plot,” said Ross, “I remember carrying her,” looked distant, “You were sick and possibly dying. I don’t know if I ever felt so broken before that.” He sniffed back tears.

Demelza came over to him and hugged his side as they looked at the trunk, “Should we open it?”

Demelza nodded and opened it. Inside of it was her belongings and some keepsakes. One by one she pulled them out. A set of brushes, some hairpins, some jewelry. Ross picked up a set of sapphire earrings.

“I got these for you when I came back from London,” he said looking them over. 

At the bottom of the trunk was the blue dress, folded neatly and wrapped up in cotton.

“I didn’t pack it up like that, Marcus must have had it stored correctly,” she said looking the dress over, “It’s been altered too.”

“Maybe it’ll fit you now,” he said teasingly.

“Not that I ever wore it again after that night,” she said, poking him.

“No, you preferred to sleep in one of my old shirts.”

“They’re coming back now, quicker.”

He kissed the top of her head, “More by the moment. Everything you say and do bring up a thought and that thought forms a memory. They are all in there. Thoughts of Julia, lead to thoughts of Jeremy, that lead to thoughts of Clowance but that’s only three, you said that there were four. One was on the way when I left for France.”

“Yes, Isabella and she was something to behold Ross, a great beauty and a talented musician and actress,” Demelza pulled out her phone and brought up a photograph, “This is her in her thirties I think.”

Ross looked at the photo and she was the picture-perfect reflection of Demelza, “She looks just like you, did she have your eyes and hair?”

“No, she had your eyes but my hair.”

Ross looked down, “I was in the French prison when I was supposed to come home. I promised to be home by harvest.”

“It was two years later when I received this,” she said, pulling out a faded letter.

“It’s Marcus’s handwriting, bastard did his best to keep us apart didn’t he.”

“But then he brought us back together.”

“Only after I found you and blood bonded you, he would have been happy to let me go on the rest of my existence never remembering you or the children. He wanted you to die old and alone.”

“Oh, I had many suitors come calling on me with offers of marriage once word got out that you were officially dead. Even George offered.”

Ross made a face, “You turned him down, didn’t you.”

“If I hadn’t, you never would have found me here that night and had your way with me.”

“Had my way, as though you weren’t party to our passions that night,” he said with a laugh. 

Ross made dinner while Demelza unpacked. They ate and looked at the photos of their descendants, shared a few tears when reading about Jeremy’s passing while at sea in the service of the Navy but that he had left a son to inherit. 

It was well past three am by the time the two of them decided to call it a night. The two of them stood in the bedroom and looked awkwardly at one another.

“This is ridiculous,” laughed Ross, “We’re back to where we were when we first married.”

“Or that time you were away in London for over six months,” she said slowly undressing. 

“You must find this task much easier now,” he said, taking off his shirt, “No more stays and such.”

“I do miss your help in removing them,” she said grinning.

“Little vixen,” he said coming over to undo the snaps on her bra. He slid it away and reached around to cup her soft breasts with both his hands while kissing her neck. Demelza let out a soft moan and she cupped her hand over his.

“This part of our relationship was never any problem, you were always so willing, so responsive to my touch,” he reached down to lift off her underwear and then cupped her mound and slipped a finger inside to find her already wet. He gently ran his finger over her clit and her hips bucked to meet him.

“Ross,” she moaned, “I want to touch you.”

She felt him remove his hand and turn her around and kissed her as she worked to remove his pants and underwear. He was already hard when her soft hand wrapped around his penis. 

“Demelza,” he choked, “Please,” he wasn’t sure what he was begging for but he just needed more of her. 

He walked her back towards the bed and brought the two of them down to lay on it. He brought his lips to her nipples and first kissed them and then suckled them. Demelza ran her finger through his short curls.

“I miss your long hair,” she moaned in his ear and felt him grin against her breast. 

“I missed your breasts and this,” he said as he rubbed his length against her hot core before he slipped inside of her.

She let out a soft cry and wrapped her legs around his hips and locked him there, unable to move.

“Stay like this a while,” she said before kissing him, “Let my body remember how to hold you inside me.”

They lay there kissing, touching, and caressing until Demelza began to move her hips and loosen her legs. Then it was like all of the past years drifted away and they were lost in each other again.

“I love you,” whispered Ross, “Demelza, I love you so much, I missed you for so long. Never will we be parted again.”

“I love you,” cried Demelza as she came around him which was his final undoing as he came inside of her. 

They lay in the comfort of each other's arms before the exhaustion of the day finally took them. 

The next morning Ross awoke first to find Demelza wrapped in his arms. At last, he finally felt whole again. 


End file.
